The present invention relates to an irrigation device. Administrating an irrigation liquid is a common medical procedure whereby liquid is injected into a bodily cavity, such as into the rectum and lower intestine of a patient in order to induce bowel movement. The need for such a procedure typically arises in patients suffering from certain physical ailments in which voluntary bowel control is impaired or when the bowel needs to be cleaned before e.g. a coloscopy or a surgical operation. To this end, irrigation systems may be used e.g. by people suffering from spinal cord injuries, spina bifida or multiple sclerosis. For such users, irrigation may improve quality of life by preventing constipation, reducing time spent for bowel emptying procedures, reducing fecal incontinence, and by increasing independency in general.
Irrigation is nowadays often performed outside medical attendance premises, such as in the patient's home, and is also often performed by the patient himself, i.e. by self-administration. Hereby, the patient need to do multiple tasks at the same time, or immediately following on each other, such as inserting the probe in a correct position, adequately fixating the probe in the bodily cavity, enabling the liquid to be discharged for irrigation and discharge a correct dose of irrigation liquid, and removing the probe after use. Further, many of the users of irrigation systems have reduced dexterity, which makes the operation even more cumbersome.
It is further of importance that the irrigation system is of a limited size, and portable. Portability of the irrigation system is important to disabled persons who are not hospitalised or bed-ridden if they are to live as normal a life as possible. This is particularly important if they travel away from their home, for instance, to someone else's home or if they stay in a hotel. In this situation, they need to be able to deal with their bowel function easily.
Various irrigation systems are known in the art, such as is disclosed in WO 2008/087220, WO 2009/092380, WO 03/030969, WO 2011/023196 and WO 03/030968. However, despite the attempts to make these devices user friendly, all of these irrigation devices are still relatively complicated to use, especially for self-administration of the irrigation liquid, and also, most of these known devices are made of many different components and are relatively costly to produce.
It is also known to use electrical pumps in irrigation systems. For example, such irrigation systems are disclosed in WO 08/087221 and EP 0 582 032. However, these systems are also subject to various problems, such as being large, complex and expensive. Further, the electrical systems of these known systems are also sensitive, and are easily deteriorated or destroyed by the environment in which they are used, were water is often spilled, etc. It may also be difficult to ensure that the irrigation system is always operated in a safe way, and unintended use of the system, either on purpose or by accident, may lead to discomfort or even hazard to the user/patient.
In EP 1 531 885 an irrigation system is disclosed having a control unit in which a rotatable knob is rotated to sequentially set the irrigation system in distinct use states: an inactive position; a position in which gas is pumped into a reservoir; a position in which an inflatable retention member of the probe is inflated; a position in which irrigation liquid is transferred through the probe for irrigation; etc. Even though such a control unit is seemingly easy and convenient to use, the irrigation process still becomes tedious and cumbersome for many users. In particular, many users find it necessary to adjust the inflation level of the retention member over time, which is difficult to achieve in the above-discussed solution.
There is therefore a need for an irrigation device which can be used safely, easily and conveniently for self-administration of the irrigation liquid, and which can be produced in a cost-efficient way.